You don’t realize how vital taking a shower is until you can’t take one! Most people sleep better and feel better after taking a shower. You definitely smell better after taking one if you live off-grid! The challenge is developing the infrastructure that enables you to take a shower without much fuss.
The Shower Design
I brainstormed on and off for months trying to come up with a simple, yet effective way to shower while living off-grid in our tiny cabin. The design had to be relatively cheap and quick to build, as the shower is not intended to be permanent and I had other major projects going on.
There were actually four aspects of the project. They were water filtration, water delivery, water temperature control and user comfort/privacy. This post will deal primarily with the comfort/privacy aspect of the project which was the last part completed. I will cover the other three aspects in a later post.
In The Beginning
Have you ever taken a shower under the stars? Well, it certainly is different! You can see the big dipper while taking a dip… well kind of! We started off just standing on a pallet that I covered with a piece of plywood. That was it! It was the Summer and we had no air conditioning. The nightly showers were great! We live way out in the country and neighbors are sparse. There are no exterior lights around here of any sort so you have complete privacy. The moon and the stars are it. Other than the occasional wild neighbor passing through!
We would normally carry a flashlight to the shower in case the light from the moon and stars wasn’t enough. There were several nights that I would hear something in the trees on the nearby hillside. I would shine the flashlight only to see several pairs of eyes reflecting back at me! My immediate reaction was always FEAR… I mean nothing! What can you do? You are standing on a pallet taking a shower! We finally figured out it was a whitetail doe with her twin fawns. I guess they were coming to watch the “crazy people” taking a shower in the dark, standing on a pallet in the middle of the woods! It was better than black bears or coyotes watching us!
Seasons Change
Fortunately, the 80 degree Summer days gave way to the 60 degree Fall days. No more sweating! Unfortunately, those 60 degree days brought 40 degree nights and some wind too. What was once comfortable and refreshing in the Summer was now chilly and dreadful in the Fall! No more long showers and star gazing! The lower temperatures and winds forced me to stop other projects in order to give us a bit more enjoyable showering experience.
I needed a shower house that was mobile, that I could rapidly build, that would protect us from the coming Winter weather and that could be built only with scrap that we already had on site. I settled for a simple “outhouse type” design.
The Build
We felt like the existing pallet and plywood base we had been using was sufficiently strong enough and would enable me to move it with the tractor with ease. I used some 2×4 and 2×6 lumber that was lying around. I wasn’t concerned with using treated lumber as I only needed it to last a year or so. We already had the 5V galvanized metal and screws.
The framing is as simple as framing gets. We needed this enclosed shower quick and weren’t overly concerned with everything being perfectly square, level and plumb. I screwed the entire thing together to make it easier to take apart once it wasn’t needed anymore. Shimming one side of the pallet with a few rocks helped the water drain off the plywood floor.
I also installed a 4″ drain close to the shower to prevent standing water.
I installed a simple shelf and few well placed screws to hang a towel, bath cloth and robe.
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Originally, I left a gap between the bottom of the metal wall and floor to allow light to come in, water to go out and to speed up the drying process. That was a mistake as it also allows cold Winter wind in! I remedied this by placing scrap metal and plywood over the gaps. I bought a battery operated LED light
Problem solved.
Water Control
I hung our Camp Chef Triton Tankless Water Heater
I had to install wind breaks on each side as the wind will blow the burners out resulting in a cold shower with no warning! The wind breaks work great. No more cold surprises! I will post a review in the future on the water heater.
A Big Deal
This shower has been a really big deal for us! No more waiting until it’s dark. 33 degrees F temps no longer scare us! Windy days no longer force us to use the Dude Cloths 
What has been your experience with showering off-grid? We would like to hear your thoughts.
Ambitious Feller
“If the women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy!” Red Green
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